The number of Romanians and Bulgarians working in the UK rose by a quarter in three months, new figures have shown.
The Office for National Statistics said 141,000 were employed from April to June compared with 112,000 in the previous three months, up nearly 26%.
Temporary restrictions on the type of jobs people from the two countries can do are due to expire later this year.
This has led immigration campaigners to claim that there will be an even bigger increase next year.
BBC political correspondent Susana Mendonca said the issue of migration from Romania and Bulgaria was a controversial one.
The government has not said how many more migrants it expects once the labour market is open fully to the two countries.
Travel freelyMigration Watch UK, which campaigns for tighter controls on immigration, said the latest figures were in line with its estimate that net migration from Romania and Bulgaria would stand at about 50,000 a year for the next five years.
End Quote Sarah Mulley Institute for Public Policy ResearchIt's about making sure we're prepared whatever the numbers are"
"We hadn't expected this early uptake - quite a considerable increase - nine months before our labour market is open and I think it does suggest that there's a good deal of interest in these countries in coming to work here," Migration Watch chairman Andrew Green told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.
It backed up opinion polls suggesting migrant workers were making "concrete plans", added Sir Andrew.
"It's not surprising, because take-home pay here will be four or five times what these workers will get at home," he said.
Sarah Mulley, associate director for migration and communities at centre-left think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research, agreed the early increase was surprising but said that instead of focusing on the figures the government should "make sure that we're prepared whatever the numbers are".
"I think that's what people are most worried about on the ground rather than this national-level discussion about population and numbers," she added.
The Home Office said Romanian and Bulgarian nationals made up just 0.3% of the people employed in the UK.
Limit accessA spokeswoman added that over the same period more people from western EU countries had come to work in Britain.
Bulgarians and Romanians have had the right to visa-free travel to the UK since 2007 when their countries joined the EU.
But there have been temporary restrictions on the kind of jobs they could take, which will be dropped at the end of the year in accordance with EU rules.
In response the UK government is considering limiting access by migrants to benefits, healthcare and housing.
Diplomats from Bulgaria and Romania have repeatedly stressed that they are not expecting a "wave" of migration from their countries.
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